Astros 4, Reds 3 (10 innings): Altuve drives home the game winner

Share this:

The Astros have a new look. They can’t for one moment market themselves as new and improved, but that’s not the point. That’s not going to be the point for some time, because the Astros have taken a scorched-earth approach to rebuilding their team.

The point is for some of those new players to establish themselves as cornerstones for the next generation. One of those newbies, second baseman Jose Altuve, drove in the winning run with bases-loaded, fielder’s choice grounder in the 10th inning for a 4-3 victory against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night.

A crowd of 21,502 gathered at Minute Maid Park for the Astros’ first home game since the team traded All-Star Hunter Pence and former All-Star Michael Bourn. Three of the Astros’ starters — Altuve, left fielder J.D. Martinez and third baseman Jimmy Paredes – were playing for a Class AA Corpus Christi team that has the worst record in the Texas League two weeks ago.

“I think you’re able to say ‘Hey, we’ve got some talented players’,” manager Brad Mills said. “And it’s nice to see these guys just keep battling. There’s no preconceived ideas of how they have to go about things or how they do things. They just come up here and play.”

New look looks good

One member of the Corpus Christi contingent, Martinez, scored the first run. Paredes drove in the first two runs, becoming the first player in franchise history to triple in his first plate appearance in the majors. Then there was Altuve, who drove in Humberto Quintero with the winning run with a ground ball up the middle against a drawn-in infield.

“A couple weeks ago, we were down in Double-A talking about wishing we were in the big leagues,” said Altuve, the veteran of the Corpus Christi trio with 12 games of major league experience. “Suddenly, we are in the big leagues, and we did a good job to help the team with the game.”

Paredes wasted little time making a first impression, delivering a triple that ignited a three-run rally in the second inning off righthander Bronson Arroyo. A line drive into the right-center gap drove in Martinez and Clint Barmes.

A double by Quintero drove in Paredes to give the Astros a 3-0 lead.

Minute Maid Park masher Joey Votto doubled in a run, giving him an extra-base hit in 11 consecutive games in the Astros’ home park, and came around to score in the third to cut the lead to 3-2. The Reds loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth, but righthander Bud Norris limited the damage to one run by getting Jay Bruce to bounce into a 4-6-3 double play.

Infusion of energy

After a leadoff double by Rice alum Paul Janish in the sixth, Norris called it a night after 102 pitches. On top of having a blister on his right middle finger, Norris had matched his season high of 10 hits allowed. After a sacrifice by pitcher Arroyo, Astros reliever Fernando Rodriguez stranded Janish on third by striking out Drew Stubbs and getting Miguel Cairo on a fly out.

That laid the groundwork for five scoreless innings by the Astros bullpen. The fourth and final Astros reliever, Mark Melancon (6-3) stranded pinch hitter Chris Heisey in scoring position in the ninth inning and worked a 1-2-3 10th.

Quintero led off the 10th with a single off Logan Ondrusek (4-4) and went to third on a single by pinch hitter Angel Sanchez. After an international walk to Brian Bogusevic, Altuve delivered.

“I feel like we have some good energy right now,” Melancon said. “These young guys have brought some energy.”